Toddlers

So my sister-in-law sent this out as an email the other day. I just about cried I was laughing so hard so I thought I would share with you as well. Oh, how quickly life changes. ENJOY!!!

WHY HAVING A TODDLER IS LIKE BEING AT A FRAT PARTY

10. There are half-full, brightly colored plastic cups on the floor in every room. Three are in the bathtub.

9. There's always that one girl, bawling her eyes out in a corner.

8. It's best not to assume that the person closest to you has any control over their digestive function.

7. You sneak off to the bathroom knowing that as soon as you sit down, someones going to start banging on the door.

6. Probably 80% of the stains on the furniture contain DNA.

5. You've got someone in your face at 3 a.m. looking for a drink.

4. There's definitely going to be a fight.

3. You're not sure whether anything you're doing is right, you just hope it won't get you arrested.

2. There are crumpled-up underpants everywhere.

1. You wake up wondering exactly how and when the person in bed with you got there.

Fun with Friends

We had dinner with friends tonight and Karsten got to play with Ashlynn and Mason, friends from school. They watched movies and played. Mason was a good sport letting the girls take over! He even had girly chap stick all over his face!

Karsten acting like a ballerina

First Birthday Party for a Friend!

Today was Karsten's first experience with a REAL birthday party for a friend. We were invited to the party room at the KROC center-a big, family athletic facility-for pizza, cake and then a swim party. Needless to say, she had a BLAST! Mason is her best friend from school and church. Happy 2nd birthday, Mason!

Mason and Karsten enjoying pizza
Mason and his older brother, Miles, with mom, Laura

Mmmmm, chocolate cake!

Whoa, BIG BITE!

Delicious!

Swim Party

Talk about being excited for the party to start. Karsten was going nuts inside of the glass walled party room that was looking out to the huge pool and play area. It was such a tease and she was crawling into the window sill and trying to pull open the door to get to the pool. Forget the presents, it's time for FUN! First thing she did was stand under the water pouring on her head!

March, march, splish, splash
SUPER fun activities. What a great place for kids!

Houston, we have a problem!

K found her snow pants in her room and insisted on putting them on. Great job, sweetie, BUT it doesn't work so well when you have two legs in one leg hole!!!

Crazy hair day!

Today was crazy hair day at school. We went for a 5 ponytail, 2 braid combo into one long braid diagonal across her head. Talk about wacky! Karsten has great hair for such an event!

Fun times with the cousins

All of Britt's generation of cousins got together with their kids for a family birthday party today. Karsten had a blast playing with all of the kids and dress up clothes. She surprised us with her Lady Gaga impersonation!

She also loved talking to Cousin Bre's baby Berkley.

Mommy, Pay Sow? yeah!

As I was cleaning out Karsten's closet this morning she kept pulling her clothes out and playing dress up. After a short time she discovered her snow clothes from school in a bag by her door. She proceeded to put on her snow pants, requested that I put her gloves on and then pulled her monkey hat off of her hook and put it on.

Next came the sweetest request, "Mommy, pay sow? yeah!" A simple request-can we play in the snow? And she always follows up her questions with "yeah" as assuming that the answer will always be yes! Too cute and of course we went to play in the snow. All she wanted to do was sit and eat the snow. But she took a break for a few sled runs down the hill next to the house too...filled with squeals and laughter and another favorite word- AGAIN!

Obstacle Course

What an ingenious child! We were in the kitchen and could hear Karsten grunting, but could not find her. We came around the corner of the counter to find her underneath the counter bar going thru her self-made obstacle course! She is fine tuning her gross motor skills!

Mommy in Training

Karsten has this gig down and she makes it look so easy!

Independence at its Finest!

So take a sneak peek into the Towery home for a bit...

I am prepping everything to cook dinner tonight and Karsten, as is typical fashion these days, ever sold boldly "requests" that I pull a chair over to the counter so that she can stand and help me prep too. I am whipping things together with the whisk when she tries to push my hand off of the handle of the whisk. I tell her that I would love to have her help me, but Mommy's hand needed to be on top of Karsten's as we whipped the ingredients together. Karsten promptly pushed my hand off of the handle of the whisk and shouts, "No Mommy, Karsten do."

I quickly turn to Chris and state, "I thought we had at least a few more months until the terrible twos hit. She is NOT EVEN TWO yet." Such is life!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What better way to start off 2011 than with a new family picture to adorn the mantle.
And then it was time to relax and watch the Rose Parade and some football. Karsten's favorite part of the parade was yelling, "yeah marching band" as she thew her hands in the air and clapped!